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Ensemble Studios may be no more, but Microsoft hasn't forgotten the franchise it created: Age of Empires. Heading into GamesCom 2010, the company has announced a revival of the series in the form of Age of Empires Online, which is being developed by Robot Entertainment, a studio that knows a thing or two about the subject. That's because it was started by Ensemble Studios founder Tony Goodman. (more)

"Windows Phone 7 is the launch of a major gaming platform for Microsoft," says Matt Booty, general manager of mobile games at Microsoft Game Studios. Booty made this declaration in an announcement just issued as the tech giant lays bare its plans for gaming -- specifically Xbox Live and actual titles for the platform -- on its upcoming mobile OS at GamesCom 2010. (more)

At a Harmonix event a few weeks ago, I finally got some solid fingers-on time with Rock Band 3's keyboard, and as a guy who took nearly 10 years of Friday afternoon piano lessons as a kid, I can say that it's a nice set of keys. The quality of the plastic ivories is not quite as good as your Grandma's classic Steinway, but better than a cheap Casio, and Harmonix has put just as much thought and design into the keytar* as it did into the previous Rock Band instruments. (more)

If you're familiar with Unplugged, you should be able to jump right into Rock Band 3's Expert modes on DS. The gameplay is identical: all the instruments and the vocals are charted at once, and you freely switch between them as you attempt to successfully play note phrases to keep each part "alive." It's Harmonix's classic Frequency game, but with rock music. Rock Band 3 for DS doesn't take advantage of the touch screen or the built-in mic -- nor does it require you to pay attention to both screens at o... (more)

Toy Story 3 sales may be down 17 percent in the UK, but it still had enough buzz to remain atop the All Formats chart for another week. Red Dead Redemption rode hard and moved up three spots to second, while Dance on Broadway commanded the stage at third. Lego Harry Potter used "wingardium leviosa" to float up four spots and Art Academy used dark arts (and some heavy promotion, according to Chart-Track) to move up 23 spots to fifth. (more)

We'd say Cave is putting more bullet-hell shmups on the Xbox 360 than we can handle, but that's hardly descriptive, since one is more than we can handle. The developer has announced ports of three more of its classic shooters for Xbox, including one two-game collection. (more)

When Apple launched the iPhone 4, a number of customers complained that when they held the phone a certain way, their reception was greatly diminished. In a press conference held a few weeks after the phone's launch, Jobs demonstrated that the problem could be reproduced on a number of other smartphones. This was a problem that was present in any phone with an internal antenna, he said. If you cover the portion of the phone with the antenna, you're going to get the same result. Though the makers of the... (more)

Following the same Galaxy S branding that Samsung has been using for its newest line of smartphones, the company's tablet is rumored to be called the P1000 Galaxy Tab. Samsung Firmwares claims to have found a "new special firmware" that give away the specs of the upcoming slate (more)

We've known that proper Xbox Live gaming (powered by XNA) was coming to Windows Phone 7 devices, but we'd yet to see any of that thumb-spraining goodness in action besides a brief demo and a few developer videos. (more)

When reviewers call your product "the worst __ ever made," do you give up and move on? Or do you build a second model and try to prove them wrong? After introducing the world's first consumer stereoscopic 3D shooter to dismal reviews, FujiFilm chose door number two, replacing the camera with a thinner, lighter, and easier-to-use version that addresses a host of complaints and costs $100 less to boot. The FujiFilm FinePix Real 3D W3 adds a larger 3.5-inch, 16:9 LCD screen, a 720p video recording mode, and... (more)

While Microsoft's new controller-free Kinect for Xbox 360 will be hitting US shores on November 4th, we've just learned that it'll officially land in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa on November 10th. Sure, that's a bit of a wait, but take heart in knowing that Microsoft's targeting an October launch of its Xbox Live lovin' Windows Phone 7 handsets in Europe compared to a November release in the US. Otherwise, we're looking at the same 15 exclusive Kinect game titles already announced at E3. (more)

For being a remake of Halo 2's Ivory Tower, Reflection doesn't look like it's changed much. Aside from giving it a graphical overhaul, the map's layout in Halo: Reach is pretty much what we remember. Large open area, some tight hallways and that elevator -- we call it the "deathvator" because, let's be honest, anybody riding that thing is going to get murdered. (more)

Thanks to Left 4 Dead 2, Friday has become some kind of weekly masochistic holiday. This week proves no different, as the latest mutation, Iron Man, pits the survivors against the Infected with "no respawns, no restarts, no ammo, all tension." In other words, you get the ammo you start with, no one respawns and, should your whole crew bite the dust (or be bitten by dusty zombies), you'll have to start the entire campaign over again. Ouch. (more)

If you thought Valve was going to cash out its stock in Team Fortress 2 after releasing an update for the game's ninth and final class, then you thought wrong. Speaking to PC Gamer, Valve's Robin Walker revealed that a mess of new content would be added to the game in yet another free update next month. Of course, after feeding "next month" through our inscrutable Valve Time Converter, that time period actually ranges between September 2010 and April 2035 (more)

Techland's insane ATV game Nail'd might defy reality in many ways, chaining together ridiculous stunts that nobody should ever do, on courses that rely on incredible, unlikely circumstances -- but even something with as little regard for the real world as this must adhere to linear time. To that end, publisher Deep Silver has announced a release date for the game: October 19 in North America, and October 22 in Europe. (more)

Amazon sent out word of a Castlevania: Lords of Shadow limited edition a bit early this week by releasing a mockup image of the package. Now the retailer has boldly tweeted (if one can do something called "tweeting" in a bold manner) release info for the limited edition, pricing it at $79.99 on PS3 and Xbox 360. The image is exactly the same as this week's mockup, meaning that we will get that nice hand-painted artwork on the box (that looks a lot like the work of longtime Castlevania artist Ayami Kojima... (more)

Fun fact: Europe makes up 20 percent of Joystiq's traffic, with half of that being from the UK. So, first off, sincere thanks to Europe!
With that said, we will be over in Germany next week for GDC Europe and GamesCom. EA and Sony have back-to-back press conferences scheduled for next Tuesday, starting at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Although we aren't expecting another reveal like last year's PS3 Slim, surprises are always welcome. So, check out our coverage of Europe's biggest gaming show next week. (more)

iPhone developer Revolutionary Concepts, responsible for the great port of the Data East FMV game Cobra Command, as well as Karate Champ and the original Frogger-like game Banzai Rabbit, announced plans for another refreshed FMV title: Road Blaster (also known as Road Avenger). (more)

As with everything in life, you never start at the top. You have to work your way up and that's what you'll be doing in DJ Hero 2's "Empire Mode." Here you'll be picking your brand, club, DJ and more and building up your career from working small clubs to the big leagues. (more)

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